STEPHEN K. MACK
Chanticleer will perform at The Victoria Theater at NJPAC in Newark, on Dec. 6, and at St. Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan, Dec. 5 and 7.
The most wonderful time of the year is upon us, and it is about to get even more wonderful for Chanticleer, the San Francisco-based men’s chorus, as they gear up for their signature holiday tour. Music director Tim Keeler says that the treasured holiday tradition, “A Chanticleer Christmas,” is designed “to bring joy around the country as we go through the dark winter months leading up to Christmas.”
This year’s tour, Nov. 29 to Dec. 23, features approximately 20 stops, including a concert at NJPAC in Newark, Dec. 6; and two at St. Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan, Dec. 5 and 7.
The program of holiday choral music combines Renaissance masterworks, classic Christmas carols in new arrangements, winter-themed contemporary pieces and festive spirituals. This edition is extra special because it celebrates Chanticleer’s new Christmas album, Joy to the World, which was released on Oct. 31 on the Delos label of Outhere Music. The album is about an hour long and includes 17 pieces that will all be performed at the concerts.
“Usually in our concerts we have a couple tracks that we have recorded before, but this time everything on the album is on the program, plus a couple other extra pieces as well,” says Keeler.
Their annual holiday tour goes back many decades and has a devoted following. “It usually starts just after Thanksgiving when everybody’s in the holiday mood and we do a concert almost every day between Thanksgiving and Christmas — sometimes two a day,” says Keeler. “It is a lot of Christmas cheer that we’re spreading!”
Concerts always begin by the glow of candlelight. Singers hold candles and proceed onto the stage, or come down an aisle if the venue is a church.
CHANTICLEER
TIM KEELER
“We start with Renaissance motets and Gregorian chants to set the winter tone and to sort of evoke that darkness of the season, which creates a very special winter vibe,” says Keeler. “Then we blow out the candles, the lights come up, and the rest of the concert is just full of joy.”
Early music selections will include “Rorate Caeli” by Michael Praetorius, “O Magnum Mysterium” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and “Ecce Virgo Concipiet” by Cristóbal de Morales.
Keeler aims to bring out vocal textures that are well-blended, bright and musical. “One thing that’s been very special about Chanticleer is the way that it has been able to maintain the ‘Chanticleer sound’ throughout its history,” says Keeler. “A lot of that has to do with the unique set of voice types we have — six countertenors, three tenors and three basses.”
Chanticleer — named after the “clear-singing” rooster in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales — was founded in 1978 by Louis Botto as a vocal chamber music ensemble rooted in Renaissance choral repertoire. Over the years it has evolved into a 12-member, male a cappella choir. They perform about 100 concerts annually, all over the world.
“One of my favorite parts about working with Chanticleer is the variety of repertoire that we get to do and the talented arrangers and composers that we get to work with,” says Keeler. “We’ve got classical commissions, early music, popular music, vocal jazz, and we end our Christmas show with a spiritual medley.”
One of the composers they love working with is Joanna Marsh. The new album includes two of her new works, co-commissioned by Chanticleer and Zero8, a Stockholm-based choir that they will perform with in Stockholm, in February.
“She’s an organist and her music is just so lush and rich, and it has this feeling that it never stops,” says Keeler. “I like to say it’s always unfolding and spinning, and you’re always looking at a new perspective. It keeps moving forward in such a thrilling way.”
The cover of Chanticleer’s album, “Joy to the World.”
A couple of years ago, Chanticleer sang Marsh’s song “In Winter’s House” on tour and they immediately fell in love with it, so they asked her to write two companion pieces. The result was “Hands and the Hour” and “Arrival at the Lantern Festival,” both set to secular wintertime poems by British poet Jane Draycott. The three choral works form the album’s “Winter’s Garland” triptych.
“ ‘Hands and the Hour” is about twilight — that time between the sun setting and darkness — and how wintertime sunsets are earlier,” says Keeler. “I think the piece captures that moment in a very special way.”
“Arrival at the Lantern Festival” evokes the feelings of an outdoor Christmas market. “There is always Wassail and some sort of fried dough,” says Keeler. “Everybody is kind of close together and it’s cold outside and you’re all bundled up, and you’re looking at all the ornaments and trinkets for sale. It’s just full of joy. There is Christmas winter holiday excitement bubbling up through that piece.”
Other contemporary works include Sarah Quartel’s “This Endris Night” and Steven Sametz’s “A Christmas Fanfare (Angelus ad Virginem).”
No holiday album is complete without timeless Christmas carols. Chanticleer offers seven new arrangements, each with their own twist, including new voicings and harmonies. “We always try to bring a new perspective to the Christmas carols while maintaining the familiar melodies and texts,” Keeler says. “If our fans have been coming to our concerts for years and years, there’s still something new for them to hear.”
Many of the new arrangements were written by Chanticleer members, including Keeler. His two contributions include “I Wonder as I Wander” and a little-known Appalachian folk tune called “And the Trees Do Moan.”
JOEL SIMON
CHANTICLEER
Other Chanticleer singers contributing arrangements include bass-baritone Jared Graveley (“Good King Wenceslas”/”Little Girl Blue,” “Once in Royal David’s City,” “Silent Night”) and countertenor Adam Brett Ward, who is the ensemble’s longest tenured singer (“Ding Dong Merrily on High,” “Joy to the World”).
Also included on the album is “O Come, All Ye Faithful” arranged by Amanda Taylor, a member of the vocal quartet säje.
Amusingly enough, Joy to the World was recorded in late June and early July at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. “Not only were we recording it in San Francisco, which never has any snow,” says Keeler, “but we were recording it in the middle of the summer, in a church, between the hours of 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. to reduce traffic noise in the takes. On top of that, most of the lights had to be off in the church because they made a lot of noise, too.
“It was totally bizarre, but also a very special occasion because when you work like that, it’s almost like a bit of a retreat.”
Keeler joined the group in 2017-18, singing as a countertenor, then went back to school for a doctorate in choral conducting. He returned in 2020 as music director, the sixth in Chanticleer’s 48-year history. On occasion he sings at concerts, particularly if the repertoire is early music or if someone calls out sick. But most of the time you can find him sitting in the back, taking notes.
“Usually my job is a little more behind the scenes,” he says. “I rehearse the ensemble, pick the repertoire, run soundchecks for the group and make sure everyone’s sounding good.”
He also handles programming of future seasons and planning of the educational programs. “Education is a big part of what we do,” he says. “Whenever we’re on the road, we try to meet for educational engagements, whether it is collegiate groups, high school groups or community ensembles.”
He calls San Francisco home these days but has lived all over, including New Jersey and New York. He did his undergraduate work at Princeton University and, before joining Chanticleer, studied, worked and performed in New York.
After the tour wraps, he always tries to make it back to his hometown of Newark, Delaware, to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. Holiday traditions include a rewatch of “White Christmas,” the 1954 musical. He also listens to the Christmas Eve service held in King’s College Chapel, a Cambridge tradition that goes back to 1918. He lived in England while attending The University of Cambridge, “so I always like to listen to that every time Christmas rolls around.”
Regarding his future with Chanticleer, he says: “I’m feeling more and more at home, and more and more excited about the music we put out there. My background is more on the early side of things so if I had to put my finger on it, that’s where my first love is, and Chanticleer is thrilling to me just because we do so many other things, and we do them all so well.”
Chanticleer will perform at The Victoria Theater at NJPAC in Newark, Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. (visit ticketmaster.com.) and at St. Ignatius Loyala in Manhattan, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 7 at 4 p.m. (visit ignatius.nyc/music/concerts). For more on the group, visit chanticleer.org.
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